News and Views
January 11, 2018
Hundreds of tenants and landlords came to the Capitol Thursday to voice their stance on a bill that would have expanded rent control in California.
The proposal, which would have repealed a law called Costa-Hawkins, which prohibits rent control on properties that were built after 1995, failed to pass a vote by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.
Tenants' rights advocates say repealing Costa-Hawkins would help protect tenants from rapidly rising rents.
January 11, 2018
The effort to allow cities to impose effective rent controls failed in a state Assembly committee today after two Democrats refused to vote for the bill.
The repeal of the Costa-Hawkins Act needed four votes to move forward. It died, 3-2, when Assemblymembers Jim Wood of Healdsburg and Ed Chau of Arcadia abstained from voting.
That continues a disturbing pattern of Democrats siding with the real-estate industry on tenant issues. Demorats control the Governor’s Office and have super-majorities in both houses of the Legislature, but the landlords still seem to rule.
December 20, 2017
Last week tenant activists breathed new life into AB 1506, the state bill to repeal Costa Hawkins. Costa Hawkins creates landlord loopholes to undermine local rent control. AB 1506 was tabled this year as a two-year bill (often a death knell in the Capitol). BUT we brought it back through a series of actions on Assemblymember Chiu (the chair of the Housing Committee), Assemblymember Bloom (the lead author of the bill), and leadership Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (over 500 letters sent by you!).
December 13, 2017
Marin landlords will now be required to enter into mediation with their tenants if they increase rents more than 5 percent within a 12-month period.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt an ordinance imposing the new requirement. The mediation requirement also will be triggered if a landlord reduces services to a tenant, if that service reduction is equivalent to more than a 5 percent rent hike. Landlords will be required to notify their tenants of the new ordinance by Feb. 12.
December 12, 2017
We’ve all heard about rising rents in Boston. According to Zillow, the average two-bedroom apartment in the city goes for $2,300. Imagine someone helped you to rent an apartment, but they said you can only rent a place that costs what an apartment did in 2005.
“With no rent control, it is extremely hard,” said 35-year-old Ashesha Rockette.
Tenant rights advocates are pushing back against a bill aimed at standardizing housing regulations across Wisconsin municipalities.
Senate Bill 639 addresses the relationship between property owners and municipal government including landlords' repair costs, credit background checks and building inspections. A hearing on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the Capitol in room 411 South.
December 12, 2017
One by one, Frances Moore has watched friends and neighbors move into cars, tents and encampments. Many in crisis often turn to the 62-year-old Oakland woman, who provides free meals to the homeless, but she has found it increasingly difficult to hear their stories of displacement.
That’s because she knows she could soon be next.
December 11, 2017
A federal district court judge in Oakland, California, has given the go-ahead for tenants of one of the largest landlords in America to pursue a class-action lawsuit alleging unlawful and excessive fees to renters who are late on payments.
December 11, 2017
Every Tuesday, Frances Moore collects a loaf of bread from Sweet Adeline Bakeshop for her food giveaway at Driver Plaza in North Oakland. Last week, though, the longtime community organizer also delivered a letter imploring her neighbor and landlord, a bakeshop employee, not to evict her from her nearby home of more than eight years.
December 11, 2017
San Francisco is likely to provide free legal representation for tenants facing eviction. But in this City’s fractious political climate, the devil’s always in the details.
Following in the footsteps of New York City’s historic Right to Civil Counsel program for eviction proceedings, two competing efforts in San Francisco seek to ensure free legal representation for renters fighting to stay in their homes.
December 11, 2017
Washington cities are prohibited from regulating rent prices, but one lawmaker wants to change that. Democratic state Representative Nicole Macri says she'll propose a bill in 2018 to end the rent control ban.
Macri, a resident of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, says it's time for lawmakers to take dramatic action and give local communities more control over rental housing. She lives near an elementary school where many students don't have permanent housing.
Amina Rubio thought little of the notice she received in the mail in October 2016 informing her that the Powell Street apartment building where she’s lived for nearly 20 years was under new management.
At the time, the name of her building’s new owners, Veritas Investments and its subsidiary, Greentree Property Management — one of the largest landlords in San Francisco — didn’t ring any bells, so it was a fact of life easily tucked away in the back of her mind.
November 29, 2017
A Los Angeles City council member Wednesday proposed banning or regulating the practice of renting out vehicles for people to live in within city limits.
Council member Mitch Englander's motion cites KPCC reporting on the growing sub-economy of RV and van rentals for homeless people.
"They're not safe for the community, where you have sewage overspilling next to parks commercial zones and next to schools," said Englander. "Do we ban them, do we make it criminal, do we have rules and regulations? We've got to have the conversation."
November 29, 2017
Extra assistance for renters who are displaced through no-fault evictions failed to pass a second reading at the Oakland City Council last night after Councilmember Annie Campbell Washington had the legislation pulled from the agenda's consent portion of the calendar and scheduled for a future council meeting's non-consent portion, where it will likely be debated and amended.
November 28, 2017
The Los Angeles City Council has shown only lukewarm support for Mayor Eric Garcetti’s proposed “linkage fees,” which would be funded by developers and earmarked for low-income housing. But even as the policy has stalled on a citywide level (it was finally green-lit by a key committee in August), a coalition of advocates has been steadily working on other ways to create developer incentives and get more affordable homes built in South Central L.A.
November 26, 2017
Dozens of renters gathered in Vancouver on Sunday to voice their concerns and find strategies for more secure and affordable housing.
They were at the first annual convention for the Vancouver Tenants Union at the Russian Hall.
The union launched in April with the hope of signing up thousands of members to be a collective voice for residents facing eviction and unfair rent increases.
"We sort of came together to launch the Tenants Union with a few demands," said organizer Kell Gerlings.
November 26, 2017
Future residents of the proposed teacher housing complex slated for development in the Sunset District could have their tenancies capped at seven years, the San Francisco Examiner has learned.
In an effort to address school district vacancies and high teacher turnover as a result of San Francisco’s high rents, The City and the San Francisco Unified School District joined forces in developing the Francis Scott Key Annex — a district-owned plot of land at 1351 42nd Ave. — into up to 150 affordable homes specifically for educators.
November 26, 2017
It’s been a year since the Fall River Catholic Diocese took over the homeless shelter on Winter Street, but shelter coordinator Karen Ready can’t get over the number of older people who are ending up on the mattresses at St. Joseph’s House.
“I’m a little bit alarmed at how many elders are coming to shelter and what we can do,” Ready said. “It’s a very bitter pill for me to swallow.”
November 26, 2017
Rent rates have spiked across so much of Bedford-Stuyvesant that even non-attorneys are finding a way to profit off evictions.
Richard Cabello, who spent 26 years working in real estate, claims to have launched the first business dedicated solely to helping landlords navigate and expedite the eviction process. His firm Quick Evic’s revenue has exploded since Cabello launched it out of a suitcase in 2015.
November 26, 2017
San Diegans are rallying behind rent control. On Sunday, the group San Diego Tenants United held a march in Point Loma advocating for affordable rent and against "slumlords." Organizers say tenants of The Village Apartments have been asking management to make changes for months about several problems including cockroaches in units and harassment by a maintenance manager. San Diego Tenants United offers free information sessions about renters' rights in both English and Spanish.